Miss Soviet Union – The first beauty pageant of the USSR in 1988

Three years before the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev was already working on smoothing the strict and rigid policy of the Soviet Union, working on diplomatic relations with the United States. After years of repression and puritanism, the government authorized the first beauty contest of the USSR in 1988, after more than 30 years of banning. A massive event inspired by the American beauty contests, which culminated in the election of Miss Soviet Union, the young Maria Kalinina, only 16 years old. Maria Kalinina, changed for Maria Kalin, is now living in Los Angeles.